Mid January - She Crab Soup

Mid January is upon us and outside there are buds on the dogwoods and tulip trees and early blooms on the camellias.

Inside there are basketball games home and away and all of them have had nail biter endings. Some of them have been wins and some losses, but every single one has been down to the wire. One home game looked like the Dogs were going down and some of the crowd started to leave. With a few minutes left on the clock we were down by 7 points. The Dogs came back to tie the game when the buzzer sounded. Some of the folks who had left the game heard the excitement on their car radios and hurried back to the arena to watch the Runnin' Bulldogs win it in overtime.

David always talks about the parity of teams in the Big South conference because all of the games this year have been decided in the last few minutes by fewer than 6 or 8 points. We just don't see any scores like 90-50.

There are about six weeks left in the Big South basketball season and I am hoping my fingernails survive it.

In between ballgames and a variety of short trips up and down the road for ballgames and meetings and all kinds of things, I had my mind set on learning to make She Crab Soup. Our favorite place to have She Crab Soup was, in all places, the foothills of NC. The Water Oak Restaurant in Rutherfordton had the best anywhere, but unfortunately they closed recently. For years I had been trying to figure out what spice gave their soup that extra kick.

Over Thanksgiving as I was learning to brine turkey, Jamey brought over some star anise for the brine. When I gave it a sniff I immediately thought of the Water Oak's She Crab Soup. That put me on a mission to find She Crab Soup recipes with Anise. Which put me on another mission to find out what anise is. I knew that anise typically is described as having a licorice taste and since I don't like licorice I never felt compelled to use it.

Turns out there is a lot more to anise than a licorice flavor. Also there is star anise (used in Chinese spices), regular anise and then there is fennel which isn't really anise but is used interchangeably sometimes. Star anise is related to the magnolia so even though it is thought of as an Asian spice it sounded plenty southern enough to me. Star Anise is a little harder to find but anise seeds are plentiful in the grocery store spice aisle and I was happy to find that fresh fennel is in our local Harris Teeter produce section. Who would have known?

I googled She Crab Soup with anise and wonder of wonders a recipe came up that included fresh fennel AND anise seeds. And it was from a restaurant called the Aqua Star in Savannah, Georgia so I knew it was worth a try.

As usual I started out with the recipe from the Aqua Star but all the way through I was changing it around. If you want the original recipe you can google Lady Michelle She Crab Soup, but I'll share the way I ended up making it with one correction. Don't add salt to this recipe because the original didn't call for any and there was a reason for that. It is salty enough. Since I had added some salt we learned to cut the salty with a little extra sherry which is really good on a cold, rainy January night. Or maybe any night.

A funny story about crabmeat. Dad and I were driving to Raleigh last week for his Biotechnology Board Meeting when I asked him to tell me about Liston Ramsey and the soft shelled crabs. Liston was long time Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives and Dad served with him during those years as Rules Chairman and Speaker Pro Tempore. Liston was a populist and Western North Carolina mountain man who stuck to his roots and did not put on airs even with his powerful position. Liston was always himself. So he and Dad and several others went to the NC Coast one weekend for a political event and if you have ever been to NC you know that being in the mountains and being down east are like being in different countries. Different customs, different landscapes and different languages.

So the jist of the story is that Liston and Dad were with all these people from Down East who were proudly serving soft shelled crabs. Dad laughs when he remembers watching Liston picking throught the crabs and then commenting in his mountain drawl that it looked like they had left in the knees and knuckles and toenails!

She Crab Soup with Fennel and Anise

1/2 head of fennel - diced
(I saved some of the tops for garnish)
1 leek chopped (sister uses leek in all of her soups and she reminded me to be sure and cut in half and wash before chopping or it could be sandy)
1 red onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 1/2 sticks butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour, or a tad more

Saute onions, celery and fennel in butter until transparent and then add flour and brown to make a roux.

32 oz Seafood Broth
8 oz fish base (or crab base if you can find it. It will be in soup aisle)
1 cup sherry
2 cups whole milk
1 quart cream
1/2 tsp anise seeds
1 bay leaf
Course black pepper to taste
Parsley flakes

Slowly add broth to roux and whisk with wire whisk till smooth. Add rest of the above. Simmer for 20 minutes. I didn't add all of the broth at once but waited to see how it thickened. If you want it thicker you may not use that much broth.

At this point, I removed a few cups and blended with an immersion blender to make it smoother. If you don't have an immersion blender you can use a regular one. I don't blend it all because I like to have a little crunch in there.

Add Crab Meat. I didn't use knees or knuckles or toenails but did use two kinds of crab - Pasteurized Lumb Crab meat and Pasteurized Claw Meat - from a can.

3 oz pasteurized claw crab meat
5 oz pasteurized lump crab

Adjust seasonings and if you want it to be pinker, add some ground paprika.

Serve in a bowl with a little chopped fennel tops for garnish and a big splash of extra sherry.